(The Times) President Putin has described European leaders as “little pigs” in a vitriolic speech in which he warned that Russia would use any means necessary to capture territory in Ukraine that it claims as its own.
At a meeting with defence officials in Moscow, Putin said that Russia’s army held the upper hand across the battlefield and he was determined to “liberate” towns and cities in the east and south of Ukraine.
“The goals of the special military operation will undoubtedly be achieved,” he said. “We would prefer to do this — and address the root causes of the conflict — through diplomacy. If the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will liberate its historical lands by military means.”
He was speaking after U.S. President Donald Trump said that peace in Ukraine was “closer than ever”.
Putin accused European leaders of helping former U.S. president Joe Biden to provoke Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by forcing Russia into military action to defend its national security. Moscow has said that Kyiv’s European allies are attempting to scupper a US-backed peace deal that is skewed in Russia’s favour.
“Everyone believed they would destroy and dismantle Russia in a short period of time. The European little pigs immediately joined the previous American administration’s efforts in the hopes of making a killing from the collapse of our country,” Putin said. He was flanked by Andrey Belousov, the Russian defence minister, and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff.
Putin told Russians in February 2022 that he had launched the invasion of Ukraine to prevent what he claimed was the “genocide” of Russian speakers in the Donbas region and to ensure that Kyiv would never be allowed to join Nato. He has called the war, which is the biggest in Europe since 1945, “God’s will” and a crusade against “Satanists” and “Nazis”.
Although Moscow claims that Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions are integral parts of the Russian Federation, Putin’s forces have only been able to take control of all of the Luhansk region.
A US-backed peace plan proposes handing over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known collectively as the Donbas, to Russia, while freezing the frontlines in the other two regions. However, Putin made no mention of any halt to the fighting until Russia has captured all the territories that it claims.
“Our troops are confidently advancing and crushing the enemy, its groups and reserves, including so-called elite units and formations trained in western military centres and equipped with modern foreign technology and weapons,” he said.
A former KGB officer who has been in power for almost 26 years, Putin said that Russia had wanted to become a member of the “so-called civilised family of European nations” after the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Today, it turns out there’s no civilization there, only complete degradation,” he said.
However, he said it was “nonsense” that Moscow was planning to attack another European country and that the Kremlin was ready to resume dialogue with the continent. “If not with the current politicians, then when the political elites in Europe are replaced,” Putin said.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian prime minister and one-term president, previously described Ukraine’s western allies as “grunting little pigs”. Putin has called Ukraine’s government “drug addicts” and “neo-Nazis”, but these were some of his harshest comments about European leaders.
As Putin was speaking, it was revealed that the Russian leader would “star” in a forthcoming episode of Prostokvashino, a Russian cartoon.
The animated series, which was loved by children and adults across the Soviet Union, was revived in 2018. A still from the yet-to-be-aired episode shows “Putin” in a snowy landscape next to the cartoon’s main characters, who include a talking cat and dog.
https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/putin-europe-little-pigs-biden-ukraine-war-ldk38c8qj
